Wallace's Wonderful Adventure: Off To Beijing

Up, ready, packed, out the door, van loaded, and off to the train station by 8:30. Todd and Mr. Xue dropped us off and they drove to Beijing.

The van was full.

The 6 of us went through the not so top notch security then stood in line waiting to enter the platform. A couple people were staring but not too bad. 9:00 was go time. We each put our ticket in the machine so we could enter the train area. Up the steps, grabbed a water, and found car 5. We found our seats and took pictures.

Waiting at the Tanggu train station.

9:23 the train started moving. We didn't top out at top speed because we had to stop in Tianjin which only took 20 minutes to get to. Griffin started to get up and I told him it wasn't our stop. 5 minutes later we were moving again.

One side of the train.

The other side of the train. I sat next to Scott.

Getting comfy on the train.

This sure beat being squished in the van.

On the train we were able to see real life China. Some of the housing was unreal. It makes us appreciate all we have when seeing places like that. Finally at our top speed which was 289 km. Nice ride. We were walking through the station looking for a bathroom when I saw this man standing behind Scott. He was trying to talk to him. We told him no but then he said "I have big taxi". I asked if all 6 of us could fit and he said yes. I asked how much it would be to take us to Pearl Market. 100 rmb (15 bucks about). We could have gotten it cheaper but we would have had to have 2 cabs. Then we would have ran the risk of losing each other. Plus we would have had to wait in a long taxi que too.

Scott is like a baby...as soon as he is in a car, plane
or train he is out cold.

We hit the bathroom and followed the man out. We walked about 2 blocks with this man. He explained to me where he parked was free otherwise it cost too much. Finally in the van. Nice van with a nice driver. He kept trying to get us to hire him to take us to the Great Wall. He wasn't understanding we had a driver coming.

They look thrilled to be in a van taxi.

At Pearl Market. We went to Dairy Queen to get a treat and to ditch the driver. He wanted to walk us into the market. Ice cream was good...again.

Our new favorite snack.

Let the shopping begin. Immediately we heard "looka looka". Everyone wants you to shop at their booth. We found a shirt for Tyler (Ronnebeck nephew). Cameron kicked his bargaining skills into gear. Got it pretty cheap.

Grace wanted this ladies shirt.

He was telling us what good quality it was. Others shirts are cheaper.
This one was good.

Next stop was a coat shop. Grace and Scott each found a coat they liked. The girls were dealing with one sales girl. Her first price was 1200 rmb. I told Kelly to think what she would pay in the states and multiply it by 6. The girl said "oh, you are good". Kelly gave the girl her price and she was insulted. She said it was real cashmere. Yeah right. Kelly told her that was her final price. The girl said a naughty word then said "You are cheap. You will not buy anything". I told get we already had a bag. She got very rude so we walked away.

This was right before the girl went crazy.

Scott was dealing with our girls coworker. She also started at 1200. Scott didn't even get a chance to bargain because he just started following us. That girl snapped. She started talking loud and grabbed on to Scott's arm and wouldn't let go. The whole time she kept giving lower prices. Scott continued to "drag" her. We were halfway down a hall. Cameron tried to get the lady off Scott's arm but I told him Scott could handle it (though we weren't sure). She finally said 200. Scott stopped and said "200? Ok." Kelly said "Noooo". Scott finally got his arm free and he didn't buy anything from the girl since she was so rude. We got to the end of the hall and a girl said "I'll give you the same coat for 150". Scott tried it on and bought it. What a scary start to our shopping extravaganza.

Scott was all smiles at this shop. We were pretty sure his pants were wet though.

Fans are so fun.

Oh my goodness it is Liam from One Direction. Grace blurted out
"I'd pay $20 at home for this". There went her bargaining strategy.
She paid $13.

Todd was stuck in traffic trying to drop all our stuff off at the hotel. We continued shopping with no more problems. Todd finally met up with us at 12:30. Everyone grabbed a drink at the van to let Mr. Xue rest for a minute. We then drove to the area around Yashow. On the way the song 'I'll raise you up' by Josh Grobin was playing. Griffin said "I hate the Oprah version of this song". Cameron said "Do you mean the opera version?" Griffin responded with "Oprah, opera it's all the same". So funny.

Headed to the Toy Market behind Pearl Market.

Out front of the Pearl Market.

Walking down the road selling turtles and phone
chargers. Completely normal in China.

Poor turtle.

We went to the Blue Frog for lunch. We ordered and then told the waitress to hold the order while we looked at the appetizer menu (which they did not give to us at the beginning). She said ok and gave us a minute. When she came back we told her to scratch the salad, spring rolls, and club sandwich then started telling her what we wanted instead. She said "Oh, one minute" and she ran to the kitchen. She came back and told us sorry but she had already placed our order. Todd told her we didn't want that. It took awhile but we finally got to order and eat what we wanted. Food was pretty good. We were waiting for everyone to be done using the bathroom and Kelly said to Griffin "You have officially gotten over the sesame seed thing" talking about him eating a sesame seed bun. Griffin looked at her and in a weird voice said "I'm a big boy". Of course we all laughed. What a goof.

We were afraid of what they sold at this restaurant.

Blue Frog was a safer choice for lunch.

A neighborhood around the Blue Frog.

Waiting for our lunch.

Our 3 cute kids.

Griffin seemed happy about his lunch choice.

Ready to chow down.

I'm full.

We walked over to Yashow Market. Much less pressure though we did see one girl yelling at a couple. Everyone who wanted something at the market got something. When we were done we walked out to the van. They had people selling stuff in the parking lot. A lady showed me a Gucci purse. She said 100 rmb. I thought it was cute so I bought one. Kelly was in the van and a guy walked up with the same purses (one brown and one black) and he said 2 for 100 rmb. WHAT? She bought them. Then another guy came to my side of the van with the same purses and same deal. He tried to give me a black one with a broken zipper. I told him no so he ran and got a different black one. Mr. Xue winked at me and shook his head no. He was trying to tell me they weren't the best which I knew. Sweet of him to look out for me. I ended up getting the black purse for another 50 rmb. Kelly got the better deal but at least we have matching purses. Too funny.

Shopping at Yashow Market.

We decided to get names written in Chinese.

Kelly got Babi (Grandma).

Griffin had his name done.

Cameron had his done too.

What? 100? Sold.

Off to the hotel. We were shopped out. 30 minute ride, mostly in a ton of traffic, but we finally arrived. We walked in and everyone looked around. Nice place. 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom, full kitchen, living room, laundry room, and 8 phones. Crazy. The kids couldn't wait to wear the robes.

Cameron, Griffin, and Grace in their robes.

Luckily they had clothes under them.

Hanging out.

This is the life.

We unpacked and hung out for awhile. We had Papa John's delivered for later. We were off to eat Peking Duck. As we were leaving Cameron said he had a headache and his stomach wasn't feeling very well. We gave him an Ibuprofen and had him go to the bathroom. We were waiting for the taxis and he was starting to get alligator tears in his eyes. He said he felt like he was going to throw up. We decided I would stay with him and the rest could go. However, Griffin immediately said he wasn't interested in going and wanted to stay with us.

The 4 of them jumped in a cab and the 3 of us went to the room. It was everything Cameron had not to cry. That's how I know something isn't right. He jumped in the shower. Each boy laid on a couch and started watching Spaceballs. They decided to eat some pizza. Cameron said he felt better and his stomach ache went away. Tired, hungry, and slightly dehydrated is what we guessed.

Pizza and a movie.

We finished the movie. The others got back around 8:45. I asked how they liked the duck and they all said it was good. They also said it was the best Chinese food they had since arriving.